International World Snakebite Awareness Day - September 19
September 22 , 2022 710 days 601 0
It aims to raise awareness of one of the world’s biggest hidden health crises.
Each year, approximately 5.4 million people are bitten by a snake, of whom 2.7 million are injected with venom.
Annually, this leads to 400,000 people being permanently disabled or disfigured and between 83,000-138,000 deaths.
The awareness day was launched in 2018 by the Global Snakebite Initiative, Health Action International and the Lillian Lincoln Foundation.
India accounts for approximately half of all global snakebite deaths reported and is responsible for 2.97 million bites each year.
Around 70 per cent of deaths occur in eight states with over half of the total Indian population: Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana), Rajasthan and Gujarat.